


Fading into Beautiful Light

by shinysylver



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Family, First Time, Grief, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-20
Updated: 2011-08-20
Packaged: 2017-10-22 21:03:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/242557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinysylver/pseuds/shinysylver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rachel is killed Steve has his work cut out for him trying to hold Danny and Grace together. He may be the only one who really understands Grace’s pain but between Danny taking his own anger out on Steve and all of the unresolved feelings between the two of them nothing is easy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fading into Beautiful Light

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Hawaii Five-0.
> 
> Written for the [](http://h50-bigbang.livejournal.com/profile)[**h50_bigbang**](http://h50-bigbang.livejournal.com/) This story follows canon through episode 1.23 but diverges from there. The finale did not happen. The title is from the song “Everybody’s Changing” by Keane. Special thanks to [](http://forcellari.livejournal.com/profile)[**forcellari**](http://forcellari.livejournal.com/), [](http://somehowunbroken.livejournal.com/profile)[**somehowunbroken**](http://somehowunbroken.livejournal.com/) and [](http://jesseofthenorth.livejournal.com/profile)[**jesseofthenorth**](http://jesseofthenorth.livejournal.com/) for their beta work and support. Also, many, many thanks to [](http://chosenfire28.livejournal.com/profile)[**chosenfire28**](http://chosenfire28.livejournal.com/) for her wonderful artwork.

  


  


  


Grace ran through the halls, her bare feet slapping loudly on the floor. She clutched her mom’s cell phone close to her chest as she ran toward the farthest guest room. As soon as she reached the door she heard a loud crash downstairs followed by her mother screaming. Tears running down her face, she scrabbled desperately at the door knob. When she finally managed to make the knob work she fell into the room, the cell phone flying out of her hands in the process.

Grace immediately scrambled to her knees and crawled as far back under the bed as she could, afraid that the bad men would be coming for her. She knew from hours of playing hide-and-seek that no one would be able to see her because of the long bed skirt. It wasn't until she was all the way under the bed that she realized she wasn't holding the phone any more.

When the bad men had come, her mom had told her to hide. She’d thrust her cell phone into Grace’s hand and told her to call her father. She hadn’t wanted to leave her mom but she was scared and Daddy always told her that if something happened she should hide and be really quiet.

Grace took a deep breath and crawled carefully to the edge of the bed. She slowly pulled the bed skirt aside and saw the cell phone lying on the floor near the open door. She was about to rush out and get it when she heard Stan yelling something that was too muffled to understand.

Then she heard the loud crack of gunshots.

**

“Will you slow down already!” Danny yelled, bracing himself as Steve sped around a tight curve. “You’re not even chasing anyone!”

“You complain an awful lot for someone who willingly hands over his keys every morning,” Steve pointed out.

“Willingly? You mean I have a choice?” Danny asked incredulously.

“Well no,” Steve smirked. “I know the area much better than you.”

“That’s the excuse you’re going with?” Danny asked.

“Seems reasonable to me,” Steve answered with a shrug.

“Well of course it seems reasonable to _you_ ,” Danny said, relaxing a bit as they reached a straight stretch of road. “You’re insane.”

“Not clinically,” Steve retorted.

“Yeah well--” Danny began but was interrupted by his phone ringing. He took a quick look at the screen and hit the ignore button. After everything that had happened in the hospital, he’d told Rachel not to call until she was out of Stan’s house. They had to do this the right way for Grace. He looked up and found Steve looking at him curiously. “It was Rachel.”

“Oh,” Steve said quietly.

Danny suppressed a sigh at the flash of hurt that briefly crossed Steve’s face. Whenever Rachel’s name was mentioned Steve got that sad puppy look before he quickly forced a happy grin. Danny wasn’t sure why Steve had a problem with him getting back together with Rachel but he obviously did. Granted it wasn’t the best of circumstances since she was still technically married. If the situation were reversed he probably wouldn’t approve either so he couldn’t really blame Steve.

His phone beeped letting him know that he had a new voicemail, so he pushed aside his thoughts and picked it up.

 _“Daddy! Bad men are here and they have guns. I’m scared. Please come!”_

Danny’s heart clenched and stomach twisted at the sound of Grace’s frantic whispers. “Rachel’s, now.”

Steve took one look at Danny’s face and executed an illegal u-turn through a busy intersection. “What is it?”

“Grace said there were bad men. In the house..with guns,” Danny said. At his words, Steve immediately floored the gas pedal and began calling for back up.

Danny stared straight ahead and clutched his phone, hoping that Grace would call back. Why hadn’t he answered in the first place? He knew that Grace sometimes used Rachel’s phone and you would think he’d have learned his lesson after the car jacking. He was such an idiot. He had just been thinking of himself and the stupid ultimatum he had given Rachel. He was so selfish.

Danny wanted nothing more than to call Grace back to make sure she was okay and to tell her that he was coming, but if there were men there, and she was hiding like he’d taught her, he didn’t want the phone to go off and give her away.

Steve began to weave through the heavy rush hour traffic at high speeds, barely avoiding the other cars. “She’ll be okay. They’ll be okay.”

Danny didn’t say anything, instead taking his gun out of the holster and making sure it was loaded. He checked and rechecked the chamber, doing his best to keep the clawing fear at bay.

By the time they reached Rachel’s house Chin and Kono were already there with HPD back-up. Danny threw the door open before Steve had even brought the car to a full stop and began to run toward the splintered mess that used to be the front door. It looked like some bastard had taken a battering ram to it.

His only thought was to get to Grace and Rachel but before he could go very far, Chin took a step in front of him.

“Danny, you don’t want to go in there,” Chin said gently. He reached out and hesitantly rested a hand on Danny’s arm.

“Rachel? Grace?” Danny gasped, his heart pounding in his ears.

“The house is clear, but we haven’t found Grace yet,” Chin paused before continuing in a soft voice. “Danny, Rachel and Stan--”

“Move,” Danny growled, clenching his fists. He couldn’t let Chin finish that sentence. He couldn’t bear to hear the rest of it. At the moment he couldn’t afford to think about Rachel. He had to focus on Grace. He could still find Grace.

Chin looked over Danny’s shoulder, probably seeking Steve’s approval, then moved to the side. “Do yourself a favor and avoid the kitchen.”

Danny took off at a run, pushing aside an HPD officer who inadvertently got in his way. All he could think about was finding Grace. He _knew_ that she was okay. She had to be. There was no other option that he could live with. He just had to find her.

As soon as he entered the house he screamed. “Grace!”

He barely managed to hold himself still for long enough to listen for a response before rushing into the next room and repeating the process.

He lost track of where he was, running blindly from room to room, but when he reached the kitchen, his voice caught in his throat and he stopped in shock.

There was blood everywhere and the walls were riddled with bullet holes. He could see two bodies lying next to the center island. They were huddled together, clinging to each other. His mind knew that the bodies had to be Rachel and Stan. But he couldn’t process it. He couldn’t believe that Rachel, his beautiful Rachel, was lying pale and lifeless in a puddle of blood.

He stood by the door and stared at them blankly, not seeing anything. The part of him that had been a detective for a decade knew that he must be going into shock but he couldn’t seem to do anything about it.

Danny didn’t know how long he had been standing there unable to move when he felt a hand clasp his shoulder. He tensed at the touch and raised his gun, but stilled his hand when he heard Steve’s voice murmuring softly. He idly wondered how long Steve had been there and how long he’d been talking. Danny closed his eyes and tried to focus on Steve’s voice.

“Grace’s not in here,” Steve said quietly. He carefully turned Danny around and gently led him down the hall and away from the kitchen. “Let’s look upstairs.”

Grace. He had to find Grace. Danny shrugged Steve’s hand off and allowed his training to take over. He could go into shock later. He had to find his baby girl first.

He and Steve made their way up the stairs and started moving from room to room calling for Grace. By the time they entered the third room, Danny realized that Steve never let him enter first. He always edged in front and blocked Danny’s view. If he wasn't so desperate to find Grace, he might have appreciated the concern but at the moment it was frustrating him. He was a cop--and a damn good one--he didn’t need coddling.

“I don’t need you to protect me,” he barked, as they made their way to the fourth door.

“Of course not,” Steve said calmly, even as he stepped in front of Danny to open the door to the last guest room. Danny ground his teeth in irritation but managed to hold his tongue as he followed Steve into the room.

“Grace!” Danny called, eyes scanning the corners while Steve opened the closet.

“Danno?” a small voice whispered from under the bed.

“Grace!” Danny yelled in relief dropping to his knees. He lifted up the skirt and peered under the bed. He saw his angel huddled against the wall, her eyes wide and frightened. “It’s okay sweetie. You can come out now.”

Grace quickly crawled out and threw herself at Danny. She burrowed her face against his chest and began to cry. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He kissed the top of her head and said a silent prayer of thanks.

After she calmed down Grace pulled back and looked at Danny. “Where’s Mommy?”

Danny felt his heart drop. He had no idea how to tell his little girl that her mother was dead. He looked helplessly over Grace’s shoulder at Steve. Steve gazed back at him, his eyes filled with sympathy.

“Danno?” Grace asked, beginning to struggle against him. “I want Mommy. Where’s Mommy?”

“Grace,” Danny began, trying to hold her still, “the bad men hurt your mom.”

“Is she going to be okay?”

Danny shook his head. “No Monkey, she’s not. She’s gone to heaven with Grandpa Williams.”

“But she wasn’t sick.” Grace furrowed her brows in confusion. “Grandpa was sick.”

Danny sighed. “Grace, sweetie, the bad men hurt her really bad. She can’t get better.”

“No!” Grace shouted, suddenly understanding. She pushed at him, trying to get away but he didn’t let go. After a moment she gave up and collapsed against him, once more crying uncontrollably.

Danny felt his own eyes filling with tears as he rested his cheek against her head and looked up at Steve.

“I’ll get some of her things,” Steve said, slipping out of the room and leaving Grace and Danny to their shared grief.

**

Steve shifted the box he was carrying onto one hip and unlocked the door, holding it open for Danny. “Take her into the guest room.”

Danny nodded and Steve watched him leave with Grace cradled gently in his arms. She had fallen into an exhausted sleep not long after she had stopped crying.

Steve walked over to the table and set down the box he was carrying as well as the bag of Grace’s clothes and toys he had gathered. He opened the box with a sigh and looked down at the white rabbit.

“What am I going to do with you?” He asked the rabbit before reaching into the box and gently petting the soft white fur. “More importantly, what am I going to do with them?”

Not surprisingly, the rabbit didn’t have any answers for him. Steve sighed and began to make a mental list of all of the things they would need to do.

“She’s settled in,” Danny said re-entering the room a few minutes later.

Steve looked up at the other man. “We need to get a cage for the rabbit. The one at Rachel’s was too big.”

Danny nodded absently. He sat down at the table and stared intently at the wood grain, tracing it with his finger.

“Danny, are you--”

“I’m fine,” Danny interrupted, avoiding Steve’s eyes. “Just worried about Grace. How is she ever going to get over this?”

“ _We’re_ going to find the people who did this,” Steve said firmly, “and _we’re_ going to take them out.”

For once Danny didn’t argue about exacting a more biblical form of justice. “But what about after that? That won’t bring her mother back.”

Steve sighed and sat down across from Danny. “In time, she’ll move on. We all do.”

Danny looked up skeptically. “You didn’t move on. You became obsessed with vengeance.”

“I have a healthy desire for justice,” Steve corrected. “But it won’t matter. We _will_ find out who did this and make sure that Grace never has to worry about it again.”

Danny slumped back in the chair and scrubbed at his face with one hand, rubbing fiercely at eyes that were too bright. “After the funeral, maybe I should take her back to New Jersey. She would be surrounded by family, and away from all these memories. And frankly, there isn’t anything keeping us here now.”

Steve’s heart dropped at the idea of Danny leaving Hawaii. “You have family here too.”

Danny stared at Steve but didn’t reply and Steve didn’t want to push the issue. He shoved it aside and instead he tried to focus on the immediate concerns.

“You can stay in Mary’s old room,” Steve said. “We can move you out of your apartment later.”

Danny looked at Steve sharply. “Move me out of my apartment? What’s wrong with my apartment?”

“Nothing, except that it’s a shit hole,” Steve answered. “It’s no place to raise children.”

Danny sat up straighter and glared at Steve. “We do fine on my weekends with her.”

“Yeah, you do fine, but one bed and one bathroom? That might be okay for two days a week but forever? What happens when she gets older?” Steve gestured at the rabbit. “And besides, you can’t have pets, can you? Do you really want to take her pet away on top of everything?”

Danny looked like he wanted to argue but instead he sighed. “If we stay in Hawaii, I’ll need to look for a new place.”

“You can stay here,” Steve said carefully. “The house is too big for just me anyway.”

Danny shook his head. “We can’t...”

“At least stay for a while,” Steve insisted. “It’ll give you some time to figure out what you’re going to do. And until we get this case figured out Grace’ll be safer with both of us around.”

“You’re right,” Danny muttered. “I really hate it when you’re right.”

Steve smiled faintly. “I need to go back out to the scene. See if Chin and Kono have found anything.”

Danny nodded. “Think you can pick up a rabbit cage on your way home?”

Steve grunted noncommittally as he headed for the door.

**

By the time Steve made it back to the scene, HPD had already processed everything under Kono’s careful supervision and Chin had gone back to headquarters to start going through the security camera footage that had been retrieved from all over the neighborhood.

Even though he trusted Kono to be thorough, Steve walked through the scene again himself. When he had been there earlier he had been too concerned about Danny and Grace to pay close attention to his surroundings. Even now it was hard to go near the kitchen without thinking of Danny standing there locked in shock. Steve had talked to him for several minutes before he had finally come back to himself. He had never seen Danny that out of it and he didn’t want to ever again.

Steve sighed and pushed thoughts of Danny away. He had a job to do.

He walked through the house, going from room to room taking careful note of everything, comparing it with his mental picture of the house from that stake out so many months ago. Several of the rooms had been tossed, but all of the jewelry and electronics seemed to be accounted for. In fact, it didn’t appear as though any valuables had been taken. It was obvious that the killers had been looking for something in particular.

Steve walked into Stan’s office and looked at the destruction around him. The killers had spent the most time here. Not only had the drawers been turned out but someone had taken the time to smash and destroy the furniture. There had been a lot of rage directed toward the room which told Steve that whoever had done this was after Stan, and it was personal.

He knelt down to sift through the contents of the desk drawers which had been dumped on the floor but looked up when Kono entered the room

“Find anything, Boss?”

“Stan’s the key,” he said, standing and joining her near the door. “Did you find his computer or phone?”

“No,” Kono said shaking her head. “There wasn’t a computer left in the house, not even Grace’s.”

“But they left the jewelry and the TVs.”

“Not to mention a safe full of cash,” Kono added.

“Tell Chin to dig as deep as he can into Stan’s life,” Steve said, starting to walk. “I want to know everything.”

Kono nodded, taking out her phone.

“And I want you to pay a visit to Bruce Hoffman,” Steve continued. “I doubt he’s involved but he has made a threat before.”

“What are you going to do?” Kono asked curiously, as they made their way out of the house.

“I’m going to get a rabbit cage,” Steve replied.

To her credit, Kono didn’t even bat an eye. When they reached her car she reached out and grabbed Steve’s arm. “Take care of them. Chin and I have this.”

Steve nodded. “Keep me in the loop.”

Steve got into the car and headed out towards the nearest pet store. It went against everything he was to leave and turn bulk of the investigation over to someone else, but he needed to be there for Danny. Danny and Grace were all alone on this island. He’d told Danny on more than one occasion that he had family in Hawaii. Steve was that family.

Steve knew that Danny didn’t see their partnership the same way that he did. That had been made clear after the sarin attack. When Steve had seen Danny go down, not able to breathe, everything had snapped into startling clarity for him. Danny was everything. He was everything Steve wanted in his life, everything he needed. And for one brief moment, as he had gazed down at Danny in the hospital, he had thought Danny might feel the same way about him.

So it had been a shock when he’d walked in on Danny and Rachel together in the hospital but Danny had looked so happy, so very happy, that he had forced a smile. When it came down to it, Steve just wanted Danny happy and if he was happy with Rachel then so be it. And if Steve clung onto Danny tighter than necessary when they hugged, well he was only human.

But now, with Rachel gone, Steve knew that Danny was going to be devastated and he had to push his own feelings aside. He had to be there for Danny as a friend and a partner. Whatever it took.

**

 _Grace was running through the halls. She could hear footsteps behind her but was too scared to turn around. Her heart was racing and her breaths were coming fast. All she knew was that she had to get away. So she ran for what seemed like hours, taking turn after turn until she rounded a corner only to find a dead end. There was nowhere left to go and the footsteps were getting louder._

Grace jerked awake with a gasp. The cold terror from the dream was made worse by the fact that she had no idea where she was. She was in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar house. Grace opened her mouth to scream for her mother but she squashed the instinct. The fog of sleep was fading from her head and she remembered that there had been bad men in her house. What if they had kidnapped her?

Despite her racing heart, Grace got up as quietly as she could and began to explore the room. It was obviously a bedroom but it didn’t look like anyone had used it in a long time. It was mostly bare except for the furniture, but there were some football trophies on the dresser and a Boy Scout sash covered with patches was hanging over the mirror. She carefully opened the dresser drawers, hoping to find something, anything, to tell her where she was but all of them were empty.

She checked the closet next and found some sports equipment. Grace decided that the baseball bat would make her feel safer if this really was the bad men’s house so she picked it up before closing the closet door. She took one last look around but didn’t see anything else of use. The room actually reminded her of her room back in New Jersey after all of the stuff had been boxed up to move, which made her wonder where the boy who had lived in this room had moved to.

Grace shook her head to clear her thoughts and made her way to the door. She carefully turned the knob and peeked out into the hallway. She didn’t see anybody so she tiptoed out carrying the bat with her. She was nearly to the stairs when she heard someone coming up them. Driven by pure instinct, she quickly ducked into the shadows beside the staircase and swung the bat out at the person.

**

“Oomph,” Steve grunted as he caught the bat in his hand. “Grace?”

“Uncle Steve?” Grace whispered stepping out of the shadows.

“What are you doing?” Steve asked as he took the bat from her. He had to admit he was impressed that she had found his old bat and was bold enough to attack him with it. She definitely took after her father.

“I thought you were one of the bad men.” Grace explained, her voice shaky. “Where am I? Where’s Danno? Where’s Mommy?”

Steve mentally flinched at the mention of Rachel but did his best to keep his face blank. “You’re at my house. You and your dad are going to be staying here for a little while.”

“Oh,” Grace said obviously confused.

“You should go back to bed,” Steve suggested uncomfortably. It wasn’t his place to answer her questions. He knew that she and Danny needed to have a long talk about a lot of things in the morning and it would be best for all concerned if she went back to bed until then.

“I can’t.” Grace’s voice was trembling but she was still standing straight, her shoulders squared bravely.

Steve frowned down at her. “Why not?”

“I had a nightmare,” she whispered.

“Oh.” Steve thought fast. He could wake Danny up but he’d really hate to do that. Surely he could handle a nightmare. “Why don’t you come downstairs and I’ll make you some tea? That always helps me when I have nightmares.”

“Okay,” Grace said quietly as she followed him down the stairs.

When they reached the kitchen, Steve indicated that Grace should take a seat at the table before he went about the familiar ritual of filling the kettle. Once he had the water on to boil, he selected a soothing chamomile blend from the pantry and retrieved two of his mother’s delicate tea cups and their saucers from the cupboard. He worked in silence because he didn’t know what to say or how to comfort an eight year old girl who had just lost her mother and was suffering from nightmares. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure that eight year olds liked tea but he figured that Grace would have objected by now if she didn’t want it.

A few minutes later he set one floral cup in front of Grace, before sitting down on the other side of the table. “Be careful, it’s hot.”

Grace nodded. She didn’t reach for her tea but instead watched him intently as he sipped his.

“Do you really have nightmares?”

“Yes,” Steve answered.

“What about?” Grace asked.

“Lots of things,” Steve replied. He wasn’t sure how much of his life he should be revealing to a child but he couldn’t see any purpose in lying to her. “Sometimes I dream about the war.”

“The war? Daddy said you’re a soldier.”

Steve frowned. “I’m a sailor and a SEAL.”

“Oh.” Grace dropped her eyes to stare down at her cup.

Steve sighed. He doubted that she knew the difference. “It’s a lot like being a soldier. We fight in wars too.”

“Against the bad men?” she asked looking back up.

“Yes,” Steve said firmly. “We fight against the bad men.”

“Good.” Grace stared at him for a moment then slowly picked up her cup and took a tiny sip. It must have met with her approval because she then took a much bigger drink. “This tastes different than mom’s but I still like it.”

“There are lots of different kinds of tea.” Steve smiled. He should have known that the daughter of a British immigrant would have a taste for tea.

Grace nodded then set her cup back down and looked at him seriously. “My nightmare was about the bad men.”

Steve hesitated. He wanted to ask her if she remembered them, if she had seen the men who had broken into her house. But he didn’t think that this was the time for that so instead he pushed aside the case and tried to do what he imagined Danny would in this situation. “The bad men can’t get you here. Your dad and I are both here and nothing is going to happen.”

“Dad says that you’re like a crazy ninja,” Grace said looking him up and down like she didn’t quite believe it.

Steve laughed. He was going to love giving Danny hell about that. “Does he? Well, that means you’re definitely safe here because no one could get past a crazy ninja, could they?”

Grace shook her head before rubbing tiredly at her eyes. She was still tense, much tenser than Steve liked, but she seemed a lot calmer than when he first found her.

“Okay then,” Steve said standing up. He gathered their cups and took them to the sink. “Do you think you can go to sleep now?”

Grace nodded and stood up sleepily. She was almost out of the kitchen when she turned around. “Uncle Steve? Will you stay with me? Just ‘til I go to sleep?”

Steve looked up from the cup he was washing in surprise. He briefly wondered if maybe he _should_ go wake Danny up, but if he’d actually managed to go to sleep, Steve didn’t want to disturb him. Steve knew from experience that sleep was hard to come by at times like this. Making up his mind, he set the cup down, wordlessly followed Grace up to his old room, and sat down in the chair next to the bed.

“Goodnight, Uncle Steve,” Grace whispered as she pulled the blankets up under her chin.

“Goodnight, Grace,” Steve replied. He settled back into the hard chair and watched her, wondering how long he should stay.

**

“What are you doing?” Danny whispered loudly from the door causing Steve to jerk awake. Danny was the only person he knew who could whisper loudly. Steve hadn’t even realized that it was possible until he’d met Danny. The man wasn’t able to do anything quietly.

Steve was momentarily disoriented but after a quick inventory of his surroundings, he remembered that Grace had asked him to stay until she went to sleep and he must have drifted off himself. He stood up and joined Danny in the hall, closing the door behind him. “She had a nightmare.”

“My daughter had a nightmare and came to you?” Danny asked in disbelief and if Steve wasn’t imagining things he sounded a bit hurt too.

“I just happened to be coming upstairs.” Steve explained. “I didn’t want to wake you.”

“You could have,” Danny said. “Is she okay?”

“I think so. We had tea and talked about it,” Steve answered.

“You had tea and talked about it?” Danny muttered in disbelief.

“What?” Steve asked, genuinely offended.

“Nothing,” Danny said shaking his head. “Is there anything else I need to know?”

“Well...” Steve hesitated. “I’m not sure how much she remembers about what happened.”

“What do you mean?” Danny asked his head jerking up. Now that Danny was looking directly at him Steve could see that his eyes were red-rimmed and puffy.

“She asked where her mom was,” Steve said, hating that the mention of Rachel caused Danny to wince before he stilled his expression. “I deflected. I thought it would be better for you to talk to her.”

Danny nodded and returned his gaze to the floor. “So what did you find out at the house?”

“Not much,” Steve replied. “It looks like Stan was the target but we’re not sure why. Chin and Kono are following up on some leads.”

“Of course he was,” Danny growled. “Once I find someone to watch Grace, I’ll--”

“No,” Steve interrupted firmly. “You take care of Grace and I’ll take care of this.”

“If you think,” Danny hissed, his voice rising with every word. “That someone can kill _my_ wife, the mother of my child and I’m just going to sit back and twiddle my thumbs—“

“Shhh,” Steve interrupted gesturing at Grace’s door. To his great relief, Danny actually stopped ranting at the reminder and frowned at Steve. With a sigh, Steve pointed to his room at the end of the hall.

As soon as they entered the bedroom and closed the door Danny picked up where he left off. “There is no way I’m not working this case, Steve.”

Steve opened his mouth to reply but Danny held up a hand to stop him.

“I’m not done,” Danny said pointing a finger at him accusingly. “You worked your father’s case. You called in a favor with the fucking Governor to work that case.”

“I know,” Steve acknowledged. “But I didn’t have anyone. You have Grace and she needs you, not some stranger right now. Let us handle this for you. Let _me_ do this.”

“This is my family, not yours,” Danny said. “My responsibility.”

Steve closed his eyes. Danny’s dismissal actually hurt. But this wasn’t about him. “You can’t go out there half-cocked looking for vengeance. You have to do what’s best for Grace.”

Danny sighed and Steve saw the fight drain out of him. He watched as Danny sank down to sit on the edge of Steve’s bed. “Do you think I don’t know that? I’m not an idiot, Steve, but seriously, what the hell am I supposed to do? I need to _do_ something!”

Steve sat down next to Danny and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll figure it out. And don’t worry, we’ll keep you in the loop with the case.”

Danny nodded and raised his eyes to meet Steve’s. Steve found that he couldn’t look away from the watery blue eyes in front of him. He was locked into the stare, his hand still resting on Danny’s shoulder, trying to fight down the urge to raise his other hand to wipe away a stray tear that had escaped to roll down Danny’s cheek.

He felt fiercely protective of his partner and he wanted more than anything to comfort him. To touch him. But Steve did his best to squash that desire because the last thing Danny needed was for Steve to go all soft and weird on him now.

After a moment Danny looked away and cleared his throat. “Thanks for taking care of Grace tonight.”

“Always,” Steve said his own voice a bit rough. The words seemed to break the spell, and he was suddenly uncomfortable with the intimacy. He pulled his hand away quickly and got up from the bed. He was afraid to even look at Danny so he turned his back and began to dig around in his dresser for clean clothes.

“Well,” Danny said in a falsely cheery voice. “I suppose I ought to go back to bed. There are a few nightmares with my name on them.”

Steve nodded in acknowledgement but kept his back turned until Danny left the room. As soon as he was gone he let his shoulders sag. Steve needed to get himself under control. Danny and Grace had been through so much and they needed him to be their rock until they got back on their feet. The last thing Danny needed was to deal with Steve’s feelings on top of everything else.

But no matter how hard he tried to deny it, he knew that things had been in flux between him and Danny for a long time now, since long before Rachel had come back into Danny’s life. Sooner or later things were going to come to a head and he just hoped that Danny didn’t hate him when it happened.

**

“No!” Grace screamed. “I’m not staying here! I want to go to school!”

Danny rubbed at his temples. “But Monkey, the funeral is today.”

“I’m not going!” she yelled before opening the door and stomping outside in the direction of the beach.

Steve watched as Danny slumped against the wall. Grace had been angry and picking fights for the last few days now. Personally Steve thought that Danny was being too easy on her, just because she was hurting didn’t mean she had to take it all out on her father.

“She blames me,” Danny sighed. “And I can’t really blame her for that.”

Steve frowned. “You’re not responsible for this no matter how much displaced rage Grace aims at you.”

“Displaced rage? Look at you Dr. Freud,” Danny said. A smile ghosted over his lips for a moment. “She’s right though. I should have been there. If I had gotten that call sooner--”

“You listened to the voicemail right after the call came in. I don’t think the twenty extra seconds would have changed the outcome,” Steve interrupted, not for the first time trying to apply logic to comfort Danny. So far his efforts had met with little success.

“But what if--” Danny started.

“Stop it.” Steve said, his patience wearing thin after days of Danny’s doubts. “You have to stop blaming yourself. How far back are you going to go with it? The divorce? If you hadn’t divorced you would have been there? It’s just not healthy, Danny.”

“If we hadn’t divorced we wouldn’t even be on this damned island to begin with,” Danny snapped before turning to look out the window at Grace.

Steve bit down hard on his cheek to keep from snapping back at Danny. He knew, or at least hoped, that Danny didn’t mean it or any of the other bitter, pointed comments he’d directed at him the last few days. Grace may have been raging loudly but Danny’s anger was slow-burning and harsh. He had insulted Hawaii as a whole and Steve specifically more times than he could count and unlike their usual banter there was no humor, no wink and a smile. But Steve was a big boy. If Danny needed a punching bag he could take it.

“I don’t know what to say to her,” Danny said tiredly a moment later.

“I’ll go talk to her,” Steve offered. When Danny didn’t acknowledge his offer, he walked briskly out of the door and towards the beach anyway.

When he got down to the beach he found Grace throwing stones as hard as she could at the water. “Nice arm. Have you thought about playing softball?”

“Go away,” she said, not looking at him.

“No,” Steve said. “I’m not your father and I won’t have you speaking to me that way.”

Grace turned to look at him then. He could see the retort die on her lips when she saw the serious look on his face.

“Here’s the thing,” Steve said. “You’re angry. I get that but if you don’t go to your mother’s funeral then you will regret it for the rest of your life.”

“How would you know?” she muttered under her breath. It was obvious that she didn’t intend him to hear her, but despite excessive exposure to explosions Steve had very good hearing.

“My mother was killed when I was sixteen,” he replied. “She was murdered just like your mom so believe me I know.”

“She was?” Grace asked looking at him in surprise.

“Yes,” Steve answered. “And going to the funeral means you can tell your mom just how much you loved her and then you can say goodbye.”

“But what if I don’t want to say goodbye?” Grace asked quietly, all of her anger gone.

“Goodbye doesn’t mean forever.” Steve sat down on the soft sand and gestured for Grace to join him. “It just means for now.”

“But she’s not coming back?” Grace asked, almost like she wasn’t really sure.

“No,” Steve said. “She’s not coming back. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t still out there somewhere watching or that someday you won’t see her again.”

“You mean like heaven?” Grace asked.

“Yes, like heaven,” he answered honestly.

“Do you believe in heaven?” she asked.

Steve realized that he wasn’t sure what religion if any Danny was but just like with the nightmares he decided that the only thing he could do was tell her the truth. “I want to. Sometimes I’m not sure but there is one thing I do know. My mom is always with me. My dad too. And I live my life in a way that I think would make them proud.”

“I want my mom to be proud of me too.” Grace said picking up a handful of sand and letting it run through her fingers.

“I’m sure she is,” Steve said, “but Grace, you can’t keep taking all of your anger out on your dad. He’s hurting too you know.”

She was quiet for a long time and Steve started to think that maybe she _didn’t_ actually know that Danny was hurting. “Grace, tell me what you’re thinking.”

Grace didn’t say anything, so he prompted her again. “Grace?”

“Dad and Mom fought all the time,” she whispered. “About me. He’s probably happy that she’s gone.”

“Oh, Grace,” Steve said gently. “Your dad loved your mom very much. I know they fought a lot but that doesn’t mean he didn’t love her. Believe me, the last thing he wanted was for anything bad to happen to her.”

Grace looked up at him then. “I guess I know that. But I’m just so mad.”

“At him?”

“Yes,” she said. “Why didn’t he get there sooner? He’s a policeman. He’s supposed to save people and get the bad guys.”

“That’s not fair, Grace. Cops aren’t like Superman. They’re real people who are trying very hard to make the world a better place.” Steve dropped his voice to a whisper. “But can I tell you a secret?”

She nodded with interest.

“Your dad is _my_ hero,” he whispered.

“Really?” she asked.

He nodded solemnly before raising his voice again. “Do you think you can try to be a little nicer to Danno?”

She nodded. “I guess I can try. Steve?”

“Yes?”

“What if something happens to Danno too?” she asked quietly as she stared intently at her toes.

Steve closed his eyes. So that was what this was all about. Grace was afraid that she was going to lose Danny too and was pushing him away instead. It was easier to make him the focus of all of her anger. It meant that she could avoid being scared and worried.

“Grace, nothing is going to happen to your dad,” he said. “Do you know why?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m his partner and I won’t let anything happen to him.”

She looked up, turning her intent stare on him. “Do you promise?”

“Yes,” he vowed. He knew that it wasn’t a promise that he should make but if it gave her some comfort then he would deal with any potential consequences when they came up. Besides, he meant every word of it. He would make sure that Danny lived a long life and not just for Grace. He didn’t think he could bear to lose another person either.

“And you’re a crazy ninja,” Grace said, a small smile creeping onto her face.

“Yup,” he said seriously. “The bad guys don’t stand a chance.”

She smiled a bit bigger before throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him.

After she pulled away, he stood up and brushed the sand off of his pants. “You should go apologize to your dad and then get dressed for the funeral.”

He hated to see the smile leave her face but was glad to see her nod and run back into the house without complaint. He crossed his arms and watched the waves lap at the shore, thinking about Grace. She was scared and angry, which in his experience was a dangerous combination.

When he had lost his mom, he had been angry at his father too. But he had avoided his dad, throwing himself into football and then the Navy. He’d done anything he could to exhaust himself physically in order to avoid thinking. It may not have been the healthiest way to grieve but he liked to think it was better than Mary who had thrown herself into a bad crowd and started coming home hours after curfew drunk. And she had only been fourteen.

Steve sighed. He could talk to Grace all he wanted but he didn’t fool himself into thinking talking was going to cure her grief or dissipate the anger. It would probably be months at the earliest before her emotions evened out and she really had control over them. But maybe he could help her feel more in control in the meantime.

“Hey,” Danny said walking down to stand beside him. “Grace just apologized to me. How did you manage that?”

Steve shrugged. “I’m not her father, she’s not lashing out at me.”

“As long as you didn’t threaten her,” Danny said.

Steve glanced at him to make sure he was joking before smiling. “Never.”

Danny sighed. “I just wish I knew how to help her through this.”

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about that,” Steve said hesitantly. He wasn’t sure what Danny would think of his idea. “I want to teach her Krav Maga.”

“Krav Maga!” Danny exclaimed in disbelief. “You want to teach my precious, sweet little girl Israeli Army combat fighting! What the hell are you thinking? The only objective is to kill your opponent. You want to teach _my_ baby to kill? You really are insane if you think that I would let you.”

Steve calmly absorbed Danny’s ire, letting him get it out of his system. Once he had trailed off to stare angrily at Steve, Steve explained himself. “She’s terrified. She’s scared that someone is going to hurt her or hurt you and she feels helpless which makes her angry. Krav Maga would make her feel more in control and give her an outlet for all of that rage--an outlet that doesn’t involve lashing out at you.”

“When did you get your psychology degree?” Danny snapped. “Get this through your head. She’s _my_ daughter, not yours. You will not teach _my_ daughter Krav Maga, or boxing, or Karate, or any other fucking violence. The last thing I want is for her to turn out like you, so butt out.”

Steve couldn’t stop himself from physically recoiling at the words. There was no joke in there. Danny meant every word. He’d had just about enough of Danny’s anger being directed at him and this time it had gotten way too personal. He knew he wasn’t perfect but knowing Danny thought that little of him fucking _hurt_.

He couldn’t be here right now. Without a word, he turned and walked to his truck. He’d obviously been spending too much time trying to be Danny’s family when it wasn’t wanted or appreciated. It was time to do his job.

**

Danny hated himself. He’d let his mouth run off and leave his brain behind like usual and he’d apparently crossed a line. He’d realized his mistake when Steve had literally flinched at his words. Imagine that! A Navy SEAL flinching back, wounded from words. But Danny couldn’t really blame him; it had been a low blow. Still, why had he suggested teaching Grace to fight? She was just a little girl. He wanted to protect her from the evils of the world, not expose her to more of them.

He sighed; he knew it was more than that. Steve had been everywhere this week, trying to take care of him and Grace. But all it did was make Danny mad. The last several nights he’d woken to find her and Steve having tea in the kitchen. Since when did she go to Steve with her nightmares instead of him? And then today, he was fighting with her all morning about the funeral and then after one talk with Steve she was ready to go. Why was Steve insinuating himself into his daughter’s life? She was his daughter, not Steve’s.

He turned away from the ocean and walked back into the house. He had a funeral to get ready for too. He had to go bury the love of his life.

An hour later, he entered the kitchen dressed in his best black suit and found Grace already sitting at the table in her new black dress.

“You ready to go?” he asked her.

She nodded then looked around. “Dad, where’s Uncle Steve?”

“I don’t know, Monkey.” Danny sighed and resisted the urge to grind his teeth. He knew Steve was mad but he had still expected him to come back for the funeral. “He and I had a little fight this morning.”

“Oh,” she said looking down at the table. “He told me that when people fight it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t really expected that kind of insight from Steve. “He’s right.”

“So do you still love Steve?”

Danny almost choked. “Steve and I will be fine. He just needs some time to himself. What else did he tell you when you talked this morning?”

“That mommy is proud of me and is in heaven watching out for me,” she said. “And that I should be nicer to you.”

Danny was feeling even guiltier about snapping at Steve. “Anything else?”

Grace paused and he could tell she was trying to remember. “He told me a secret.”

“A secret?” Danny asked very curious now. “What was it?”

“That you’re his hero,” she said with a laugh.

Okay, now Danny felt terrible. “Did he really say that?”

She nodded.

Danny sighed. He really was the world’s biggest ass. But even so he didn’t understand this new thing between his daughter and his partner. “Grace, why do you like talking to Steve so much?”

She shrugged. “He understands.”

So Steve understood and he didn’t. It bothered him that he couldn’t be what his daughter needed and that somehow Steve was. He knew that he should be grateful that Steve was there but he couldn’t seem to smother the jealousy. Even so, he was adult enough to know that he owed Steve an apology for this morning. He’d only been trying to help in his own infuriating way.

“Come on.” Danny said gesturing toward the door. As they walked to the car he took out his cell phone and sent Steve an apology text.

**

 _Sorry, I’m an ass._

Steve shook his head at Danny’s text. He hadn’t really expected an apology but was happy to get one. It still didn’t change much though. Danny might feel bad but Steve knew that he had meant every word.

Steve glanced at the clock and was surprised to realize how late it was. Despite the fight he had never actually intended to skip the funeral but he had gotten drawn into the case and lost track of time until Danny’s text brought him out of it. He had spent the bulk of the morning trying to track down a lead on the far side of the island but hadn’t been having much luck.

After he’d left the beach, Steve had called Chin for an update. Chin told him that his investigation into Stan’s life had led to evidence that one of the companies that he worked for as a consultant had overt ties to the new as yet unidentified Yakuza boss in Hawaii. The Yakuza had their fingers in a lot of pies, but it seemed like too much of a coincidence to ignore.

Steve had hoped that with the arrest of Noshimuri, the Yakuza would have taken a while to regroup. He wasn’t naive, he knew that they would be back in business eventually, but it was frustrating that despite having cut the head off of the snake they had already rebounded so efficiently. He supposed that was why they had remained relevant for centuries.

Apparently the new leader--whoever he was--had recently gotten them involved in one of the hotels that Stan worked for, using it to launder their money and provide a front for some of their other businesses. Chin had said that once a month the hotel hosted a very popular and very illegal high stakes poker game and Steve had volunteered to track down the concierge that invited the rich and famous to the game. He was hoping that the concierge could identify his contacts in the organization, but the man had proven difficult to find. The address that the DMV had on file had led to a recently abandoned apartment and so he’d spent most of the morning following in the man’s footsteps.

Steve looked at the clock again. He hated to miss the funeral but there was no way he could make it back in time, however if he left now he might be able to make it to the graveside service. Deciding that his latest lead, which was the man’s ex-girlfriend, could wait until tomorrow, he made a u-turn and floored the gas, heading back toward home to change clothes.

By the time he made it to the cemetery, wearing his dress uniform, he was one of the last to arrive. He wove through the crowd looking for Danny. It didn’t matter that he was still mad at Danny; he wanted to be nearby in case his partner needed him. He saw Chin and Kono standing together near the back of the crowd and nodded as he passed.

A lot of people had shown up for the funeral, but Steve finally managed to slip in directly behind Danny. He was standing stiffly next to a severe looking woman that Steve recognized from the pictures at Rachel’s house as her mother. Grace was standing between them holding both of their hands. Something about the situation reminded Steve of a game of tug o’ war with Grace playing the part of the rope.

Steve hated that other than Grace, Chin, Kono, and himself, there was nobody here for Danny. In fact, considering the divorce, most of Rachel’s friends and family were likely to be actually hostile towards Danny. Especially since, as far as Steve knew, their tentative reconciliation wasn’t known to anyone but him.

Steve reached out to touch Danny’s arm to let him know that he wasn’t alone. At the touch, Danny turned around and some of the tension seemed to drain out of him when he saw Steve. Steve squeezed Danny’s arm gently then dropped his hand and turned to the priest who was calling for everyone's attention.

The service was like most of the others that Steve had attended in his life--he had been to way too many funerals for a man his age--and so he phased out the priest, keeping his focus on Danny. A few times during the service, Danny’s shoulders began to hunch up and each time, without hesitation, Steve reached out to rest his hand on Danny’s back in a silent show of support. The third time he touched Danny, Steve was surprised to feel him leaning back into his hand. Steve let his hand linger a moment before dropping it.

Once the casket had been lowered, Grace led the family in sprinkled dirt as the guests began to disperse. Steve stepped back and watched, keeping one eye on Danny and the other on the crowd. It was unlikely but there was a possibility that one of these people had been involved in the attack or knew who was behind it.

It wasn’t long before his full attention was drawn to Danny. He was standing off to the side arguing heatedly with Rachel’s mother. Steve watched as he began gesturing wildly, his hands slicing through the air. His first instinct was to go over there and see what was going on but he resisted. He didn’t think that Danny would take kindly to him interfering again today.

Several minutes later Danny, threw his hands up in apparent defeat and stomped off toward his car. Steve’s heart dropped as he watched Danny drive off, tires squealing, while Grace walked toward another car with her grandmother.

“What just happened?” Chin asked walking up next to Steve.

“I have no idea,” Steve replied as he watched Grace get into the car.

“Is that Rachel’s mother?”

Steve nodded.

It scared Steve that Danny had just left without saying a word. He knew that concern for Grace was the only thing holding Danny together at the moment and Steve was afraid that without her presence, he wouldn’t be able to take the grief. Sometime very soon everything was going to be too much for Danny and he was going to break.

Steve tore his eyes away from the car and turned to face Chin. “I need to go find him.”

Chin nodded. “Kono and I’ll go back to headquarters and make sure Grace’s grandmother doesn’t have any immediate flight plans.”

Steve shot Chin a grateful look before jogging down to his truck. He didn’t know what was going on with Grace, but he’d be damned if that woman got her onto a plane before he found out.

**

Danny raised the shot glass to his lips and drained the contents quickly, ignoring the burn. He slammed the empty glass down and gestured at the bartender for another. All he wanted at the moment was to get good and drunk.

He hated that Grace had gone with Debra, but what was he supposed to do? She was Grace’s grandmother and she had every right to spend some time with her on her short trip to Hawaii. He wouldn’t have even minded if it was any other day. But they had just buried Rachel and he wanted Grace with him. Maybe that was selfish, he didn’t know.

Danny sighed. He hated Debra. He really did. She’d had the gall to tell him that he didn’t have any business raising a child, especially a little girl, because he was a man and a cop. She thought she would be a better option, but there was no way he would let her take Grace. Grace would move to England over his dead body.

Everything was getting to be too much. The funeral alone had almost been more than he could stand. If Steve hadn’t shown up—no, he wouldn’t think about Steve. He couldn’t think about Steve. Not now. Not when he’d just buried his wife.

Danny laughed bitterly. He knew that he shouldn’t think of Rachel as his wife. They had just been starting to reconcile but he couldn’t help it. She had been too important to him for too long. So much of his life was devoted to her.

He remembered when he first met her, ten years ago. He’d been a patrol cop then and if she hadn’t literally crashed into him he might still be today. She had graduated from the London School of Economics and worked on Wall Street. He was a beat cop in Weehawken. He had known then that he had to be more for her. She had made him want to be more. And so not long after they started dating he went out for detective and found out that he was damn good at it. And then a few years later she had given him Grace and he had thought his life was complete. He’d had everything he wanted.

But it didn’t last. Everything had fallen apart and they’d ended up here. Danny rubbed roughly at his eyes and downed the next shot of tequila that was placed in front of him.

After the sarin attack, he’d really thought that they could fix things. Maybe it had been naïve, but now he’d never know. He had been so excited about the idea of reunifying his family that he had pushed aside all of his doubts. He had known that the best thing for Grace was to have her parents together. And selfishly it meant that he could have Grace every day.

But no matter how excited he’d been, there had also been doubts. Doubts that he’d tried to ignore. What if it didn’t work? What if she took Grace away again? What if she reconciled with Stan? After all, nothing had really changed since the divorce. They were still the same people they were then. So how could he trust that things would be any different this time? And the worst thing was that despite his undeniable affection for her, Danny hadn’t felt the passion. Always before, their relationship had been full of fire. Whether they were making love or fighting they were never indifferent.

But since they had stopped fighting months ago everything had been lukewarm. Things had been comfortable. Nice even. But was that really enough? Danny was a man full of passion and if he didn’t feel it for the woman he loved…well, what did that mean?

“Another one!” Danny yelled to the bartender.

He didn’t want to think about this. It made him feel guilty. Rachel was dead. He shouldn’t feel guilty about not loving her enough. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to address the fact that as he’d been wheeled into the hospital gasping for breath he had been full of fear for himself, for Grace, and for Steve. In that moment he’d never even thought of Rachel at all.

He threw back the next shot. Why in the hell had he been so damned worried about what Steve would do without him and he hadn’t even thought about Rachel? He knew that he was lashing out at Steve now and that was why. He didn’t want to deal with his confusing emotions about the man because they made him feel somehow responsible for Rachel’s death. Like if he had cared more about her and less about Steve she would have lived.

He knew it was crazy but it was how he felt and it didn’t help that every time he turned around Steve was there. Steve was cooking him breakfast or trying to put Grace’s hair up in a pony tail. Steve was doing all of the things that Rachel was supposed to be doing and Danny just didn’t know how to deal with everything.

He just wished that Steve would leave him alone and give him just a little space. And yet, he couldn’t deny that he was glad Steve had shown up today. Sometimes it scared him how much he relied on Steve—how much he _needed_ Steve.

Danny shook his head. He wasn’t ready to think about this. That was the point of the tequila. To forget. He wanted to forget Rachel’s murder and the fact that at this moment Grace was in a hotel with her grandmother—a woman who had hated him long before the divorce. But most of all he wanted to forget the way he’d leaned into Steve’s touch, the way his body needed to feel him close no matter how much his mind tried to deny it.

Danny waved at the bartender again and asked that he leave the bottle this time.

**

Steve had been all over the city at least three times. He’d searched every place he thought Danny might have gone with no luck. He’d tried his house first (where he’d found the Camaro but no Danny), then Danny’s apartment, then the office and when he hadn’t been at any of those he moved on to all of the parks, bars and restaurants that he knew Danny liked. He had called Meka’s wife and even paid Kamekona a visit but they hadn’t heard from him either. It was clear that Danny didn’t want to be found. But Steve wasn’t the type to give up.

After three hours, he had called Chin and asked him to track Danny’s cell phone only to find out it had been turned off. At that point Steve had taken to aimlessly driving around the city hoping that he would get lucky. He knew he should just go home and wait for Danny to come back but sitting and waiting wasn’t in his nature.

Besides, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Danny needed him tonight. And he had to acknowledge to himself that he needed to see Danny, to know that he was okay. He knew his partner was a strong man, but he’d lost so much recently. Matt’s betrayal and Rachel’s death were enough to break any man but add in whatever was going on with Grace and he was genuinely concerned about Danny’s state of mind.

Always before, Danny had come to Steve when he was upset. When things were going on with Grace or Matt, he’d turned to Steve and Steve had done everything he could to fix it. But this time Steve was in the dark. Danny had been pushing him away with words and actions for days now and every time he thought they were making progress something else would happen. Like today, at the funeral, Danny had accepted comfort from Steve and had seemed glad for his presence, but then he’d dashed out recklessly without so much as a glance afterwards.

Steve pulled into a parking space in front of a twenty-four hour convenience store and scrubbed tiredly at his face. He shouldn’t have left this morning. He’d known that Danny was lashing out the same way Grace was but he’d still let the words get to him. Danny was the only person--other than his sister--who could get under his skin like that.

Steve sighed. He was about to admit defeat when his cell phone rang. “McGarrett.”

“Steve.” He heard Chin’s voice on the other end. “We just intercepted a call to HPD about a drunk and disorderly who matches Danny’s description.”

Once Steve had the location from Chin he pulled out and sped toward the sleazy dive bar on the outskirts of the city and Danny.

When he got there the first thing he saw was a police car, its sirens flashing and two uniformed officers standing next to it. He parked next to the car, grabbed his badge, and headed out to talk to the officers but before he could so much as open his mouth the older of the two turned toward him.

“You must be Commander McGarrett,” he said, looking pointedly at the full dress uniform that Steve had forgotten he was wearing. “We got a call from Officer Kalakaua letting us know you’d be taking our suspect off of our hands.”

Steve made a mental note to get Kono a raise. “Where is he?”

The officer jerked his head toward the backseat of the HPD car and gestured at his partner. “Get him outta there.”

While the younger officer tried to drag an obviously belligerent Danny out of the car, the older officer turned back to Steve. “He never shuts up, does he?”

“No,” Steve replied, shaking his head. “He never does.”

“We heard what happened down at HPD,” the officer told Steve. “‘Bout his wife. Outta respect we didn’t book him so his name’s not in the system. Make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Thank you,” Steve said gratefully. For all the times that he’d banged his head against a blue wall he was glad that this one time it was working for him. He really hadn’t been looking forward to calling the Governor to clear Danny’s record.

“Just be glad the guy he punched doesn’t want to press charges,” the younger officer said as he pushed Danny in front of Steve and undid the handcuffs. “He’s all yours.”

“He knew he deserved it,” Danny slurred. He blinked up at Steve. “Whaddya doing here?”

“I came to get your sorry ass,” Steve replied. He grabbed Danny’s arm and half dragged, half carried him to the truck.

“I’m fine,” Danny said, shaking off Steve’s hand and leaning against the side of the truck. “I don’t need you to come out...on your white horse. You don’t even have a horse, Steven. Why don’t you have a horse? That’s not important.”

Steve watched half amused as Danny raised a finger and tried to poke him in the chest. Unfortunately his spatial reasoning was so far off that he poked him on the nose instead. Steve grabbed Danny’s hand before he could try again and maybe take out an eye in the process.

“What’s important,” Danny said, his eyes unfocused. “Is that I am not a princess. I don’t need a knight with shiny medals and fancy hats.”

“Believe me, Danno,” Steve said, shaking his head. “No one is ever going to mistake you for a princess. Now come on, Ariel, let’s get you home.”

Danny let Steve help him into the truck before asking indignantly. “Did you just call me Ariel?”

“No,” Steve lied as he got into the driver’s side.

“Good,” Danny said, “Because I’m not a princess nor a mermaid.”

“Of course not,” Steve said as he pulled out. “Mermaids actually like the water.”

“I like the water!” Danny exclaimed, flailing his hand to the side and hitting it on the window hard enough that he was probably going to be bruised in the morning.

“What were you drinking anyway?” Steve asked, hoping to curtail a rant about the ocean. “I’ve never seen you like this.”

“Tequila,” Danny replied. “Do you have any more?”

“That explains it,” Steve muttered under his breath before raising his voice to address Danny. “No, I don’t have any tequila.”

“Are you lying to me?” Danny asked suspiciously.

“Danno, even if I owned Jose Cuervo you wouldn’t be getting any more tequila tonight.”

“Stop calling me that,” Danny said.

Steve’s heart sank. He thought Danny was okay with the nickname. They’d talked about this months ago. “Danny...”

“Grace calls me that. My precious daughter calls me that. Who are you to call me that?” Danny asked. But he didn’t sound angry or accusing he sounded genuinely confused and almost desperate to understand why Steve called him Danno.

“I’m family,” Steve said firmly. “And no matter how hard you push I’m not going anywhere.”

“Pull over,” Danny demanded.

“What?” Steve asked in confusion.

Danny held a hand up to his mouth. ”I’m going to puke.”

“Oh.” Steve pulled over onto the shoulder and got out to meet Danny on the other side.

Danny was bent over retching. He was barely staying upright so Steve moved around behind him and gently held him up by his shoulders. When he was done, Steve helped him stand back up against the car and got a towel out of the back of the truck to help him clean up and to wipe away his sweat.

“There goes the record,” Danny said, his voice raspy. “Damn it Steve, I’m a mess.”

“You’re fine,” Steve reassured, even though he knew that Danny wasn’t just talking about the puke and the booze. His eyes were shining in the moonlight and he looked absolutely wrecked.

“Don’t patronize me,” Danny said, sounding much more sober than he had in the truck. “My life’s a mess.”

“What happened at the funeral?” Steve asked gently.

Danny dropped his head back against the car door. “Rachel’s mom thinks that a single father has no business raising a little girl. She thinks that Grace would be better off with her in England.”

“And you let her take Grace?” Steve asked, shocked.

“For the weekend,” Danny replied. “She’s her grandmother. Grace should spend time with her. Damn it Steve, of course I didn’t just let her take Grace.”

“Right,” Steve said a bit sheepishly. “We should get you home.”

“And where’s that?” Danny asked bitterly as he climbed back into the truck.

Steve frowned. “Danny, you know you can talk right? If you want to.”

“Talk about what Steve? The fact that the woman I loved is dead? She was going to leave Stan!” Danny punched the dashboard. “One more fucking week and she wouldn’t have even been in that house and neither would Grace. They would have been safe with me! Is that what you want to talk about? Because I’d rather not.”

Steve cut his eyes to Danny and saw that the tears he’d seen earlier had finally spilled over. “Danny...”

“Don’t,” Danny said his voice thick with emotion. “Just don’t talk.”

Steve nodded and returned his eyes to the road.

**

Danny stared out the window of the truck. He couldn’t keep the tears from running down his face but he didn’t fucking care. He could always blame it on the booze later. Besides if you couldn’t cry when your wife was brutally murdered and mother-in-law wanted to take your daughter away when could you cry?

Steve stopped at a red light and turned to stare at him again. He wished that Steve would stop it. He hated the compassion and the worry in his eyes. Steve never was able to keep his emotions out of his eyes and all of the _feelings_ there made Danny uncomfortable.

“No,” Steve said suddenly throwing the truck into park. “I’m not going to just sit here in silence. Talk to me.”

“Now?!” Danny yelled. “In the middle of the road blocking traffic?”

Steve stared at him for a moment, turned to switch on the hazard lights, and then turned back to look at Danny. “They can go around.”

“You _are_ insane,” Danny muttered as hysterical laughter bubbled up to mix with the tears.

“Maybe.” Steve shrugged and then reached out and grasped Danny’s shoulder.

The touch was the last straw and Danny lost what little control he had. He bent over and buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking. He had cried that first night but he’d been so busy trying to be strong for Grace that he hadn’t let himself since.

“I know,” Steve murmured, squeezing his shoulder.

Just like at the funeral, Danny couldn’t stop himself from leaning into Steve’s touch. He craved the contact and was just too tired to deny himself the comfort. He felt Steve shifting around and suddenly Steve’s arm wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him close.

Danny didn’t know how long they sat like that, blocking traffic, but after his tears subsided he pulled away. He couldn’t believe he had just broken down like that. He wasn’t an insecure man. He liked to think that he was fairly in tune with his emotions, but he didn’t make a habit of crying, let alone crying in another man’s arms.

He stared out the window and didn’t look at Steve when he resumed driving.

“Is it wrong,” Danny asked quietly as he watched the trees pass by out the window, “that I don’t think I was in love with her anymore? I wanted to be but I wasn’t.”

“How you feel is how you feel,” Steve answered. “It’s not right or wrong.”

“If only it was that easy,” Danny said. “But I was getting back together with her and I wasn’t in love with her. You know that day in the hospital?”

“Yeah,” Steve said.

“Well, until she called Grace, I never once thought of her. I almost died and I didn’t even think of her. I thought of Grace. I was devastated at the idea of missing Grace grow up.” Danny paused. He knew he should stop there but the alcohol was making his tongue loose. “And you.”

“Me?” Steve asked in a strangely vulnerable voice.

Danny turned to look at Steve and saw he was holding the wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white. He wanted to make a glib remark and brush everything away but he couldn’t. A lot of puzzle pieces were falling into place and he was tired of fighting it.

“Yeah,” he said. “I was laying there and all I could think was that if I died there wouldn’t be anyone around to watch your back. And Steve, that is a full time job. Overtime even.”

Danny could see a smile tugging at Steve’s lips but when he spoke he was serious. “I was terrified when I saw you go down... “

Danny’s eyes widened at the emotion in Steve’s voice.

“And then,” Steve continued, “when I realized you had Grace. I knew I had to take care of her.”

Danny’s heart ached. That was the crux of the matter. He had seen the way Steve had taken care of Grace. He’d seen the way he had dropped everything to take care of _them_ and he was still doing it. Even now he was pushing everything aside to take care of them.

Danny leaned forward and covered Steve’s hand with his own. He wasn’t sure what he intended by it but he left his hand there and after a moment, Steve let go of the wheel and turned his hand to clasp Danny’s and squeeze it gently. Danny didn’t know what they were doing but he was done worrying about it. This felt right. More right than anything had in a long time and at the moment that was all that mattered.

When they got to Steve’s house, they sat there silently holding hands for a moment, both looking straight ahead. Danny gently squeezed Steve’s hand before dropping it to get out of the truck. Once he was on his feet, he realized that it was still hard to stay upright and he grabbed onto the truck’s door to steady himself.

“Alright there, Ariel?” Steve teased coming around and taking his arm to help him walk toward the house. “Having trouble finding your land legs?”

“That’s not going to be a thing, is it?” he groaned.

“Well you told me not to call you Danno…”

Danny squeezed Steve’s arm. “Danno’s fine.”

Steve looked down at him with that stupid puppy dog grin that made Danny’s heart swell. “Okay then.”

Danny grinned back at him. He gazed into Steve’s eyes and before he had time to think about it he leaned forward, grabbed Steve behind the neck, and pulled his head down to kiss him. He had obviously taken Steve by surprise and he just stood there, his lips still and his body tense. Danny’s heart dropped at the lack of response and he was about to pull away and blame everything on the tequila when Steve wrapped his arm around Danny’s waist, pulled him closer, and deepened the kiss.

The kiss wasn’t perfect; it was sloppy and slightly awkward because Danny wasn’t used the height difference, but he didn’t care. His heart was racing and he wanted more. He dropped one hand to caress Steve’s back trailing downward until he was cupping Steve’s ass. Steve moaned against his lips at the touch, but pulled away.

“Stop,” Steve said in a shaky voice.

“What?” Danny asked confused. He wanted more, so much more. He tried to pull Steve back down but Steve grabbed his hands and held him at a distance.

“You’re drunk and this is complicated,” Steve explained.

“I’m not that drunk,” Danny tried.

“Your breath could strip paint,” Steve said dryly. “Which is probably a good thing because it’s masking the puke. We can revisit this in the morning. If you want.”

Danny looked at Steve. He could see the insecurity hovering on his face. “Steve, the genie is out of the bottle. I don’t think it’s going back in.”

Steve smiled at him. “Just so you know I am not Barbara Eden.”

“Of course not,” Danny said following Steve into the house. “Pink is really not your color. But feel free to call me master all you want.”

**

Grace waited until her grandmother had left the room before quietly getting out of bed. She silently changed clothes, grabbed the little black purse that her dad had gotten her for the funeral, and left the room. She had to go back to the cemetery to say goodbye. She hadn’t been able to with all of the people there earlier and then her grandmother had taken her away before she could.

Grace knew where the cabs picked up on the corner near the hotel. When she got there she told the driver that she lived near the cemetery--she knew that he wouldn’t take her directly to a cemetery.

“I’m sorry kid but you need to be with an adult,” he told her.

Grace started to cry. “But I want my Mommy.”

“Hey,” the man said uncomfortably. “Don’t cry. Can’t you just call her and tell her to pick you up?”

“No!” Grace wailed she held out a twenty dollar bill from her wallet. “Please just take me to my mom.”

“Okay, kid.” He grabbed the money and opened the door for her. “But just so you can see your mom.”

 

**

Steve lay in bed staring at the ceiling wishing that sleep would come. He kept replaying the night’s events over and over in his head. That moment that Danny reached up and pulled him in for a kiss had been unexpected. If someone had asked him which of the two of them was more likely to make the first move he would have said himself without a doubt. But maybe it shouldn’t surprise him since Danny’s emotions always ran close to the surface and he often acted on impulse, whether it was a swift punch or a stinging verbal barrage, and dealt with the consequences later.

It was that that worried Steve. Danny acted on impulse—no matter how much he tried to play Steve off as the loose cannon—so what if he regretted it in the morning? He had been teetering on the brink for days now. Did he really want Steve or just want someone? Normally Steve wouldn’t care, his relationships were usually built around convenience, not long term commitment, but this was different. This was _Danny_.

Steve sighed and rolled over in the bed. It had taken nearly everything he’d had to push Danny away when all he’d wanted to do was drag him upstairs and straight into bed. But he knew that this wasn’t just a casual hook up. It would have consequences and he wanted to make sure that Danny really wanted this before he risked their partnership and friendship.

He must have eventually drifted off because he was startled awake by shouting.

“Steve!”

He bolted upright, and reached for the drawer that held his gun. He saw a shadow in his doorway so he pulled the gun out and pointed it at the door.

“Steve, put the gun down so that I come in and talk to you,” Danny called from the hallway.

Steve hesitated, his blood still pounding in his ears.

“Steve, if you don’t put that gun down right now--”

Steve set it down on the bed next to him. “It’s clear.”

Danny rushed into the room. “Grace is missing. I need you to drive me.”

“What?” Steve asked as he stood up and grabbed a pair of pants off of the floor.

“Debra called,” Danny said running his hands frantically through his hair. “She said that she got up to check on Grace and she wasn’t there. She can’t find her anywhere. And I’m still too drunk to drive. And what if something happened to her? Steve, what if I lose her too?”

“Hey,” Steve said. He walked over and grabbed Danny’s shoulder giving it a little shake. “It’s probably all a misunderstanding. We’ll find her and everything will be okay.”

Danny nodded but Steve could tell that he was teetering on the brink.

“Come on,” Steve said giving Danny a push toward the door.

The drive to the Hilton seemed to take forever. Inside Steve was frantic with worry about Grace but he couldn’t show that to Danny. Danny was barely hanging on as it was, so he put on his game face and focused on the problem at hand.

When they got to the hotel, Debra was waiting for them in the lobby in a dressing gown and slippers.

“Daniel!” She exclaimed when she saw them come in.

She rushed forward towards Danny, but Steve intercepted her. Danny might look mostly sober but he still smelled like a distillery and he didn’t think Debra would take too kindly to that. “Can you tell me what happened.”

She frowned at Steve. “Who are you?”

“I’m his _partner_ ,” Steve said placing extra emphasis on the word. “Now tell me what happened.”

“Well,” she said. “I don’t really know. Grace was upset all day. She kept saying that she went to the funeral but she didn’t have time to say goodbye. I finally got her to calm down and go to sleep but she woke up with nightmares around midnight. I tried to comfort her but she kept saying that she wanted someone named Steve.”

“That,” Danny said pointing at Steve, “is Steve. We’ve been staying with him since the murder. She’s been having nightmares every night and he’s the only one she wants to talk to about them which is one of the many things I was trying to tell you at the funeral. But you were so sure that men couldn’t possibly understand little girls and that she needed a woman right now.”

“Now’s not the time,” Steve interrupted. “What happened after the nightmare?”

“She finally seemed to calm down and so I went back to my room. When I got up again about an hour later she was gone.”

“Did she have any money?” Steve asked Debra.

Danny looked at Steve. “What are you thinking?”

“This morning when she didn’t want to go to the funeral, I told her that she needed to go to say goodbye.” Steve replied.

“You think she went back to the cemetery?” Danny asked.

Steve looked hesitantly at Danny. “It’s what I would have done at her age.”

Danny stared intently at him. “Okay, lets go to the cemetery.”

Steve turned and rushed out of the hotel, Danny and Debra hot on his heels. He barely waited until they were both in the car before he turned on the police lights and sped to the cemetery. He was sure that was where she had gone but it was the last place a little girl should be alone at night.

As he took the turns at high speeds, out of the corner of his eyes he could see that Danny was turning very green. “Don’t you get sick on me again.”

“I’m not trying to. It’s not a plan,” Danny snapped as he sat up straighter. He swallowed several times and held his hand over his mouth.

“I’m not going to pull over,” Steve said.

Danny shot him a glare. “You better not pull over.”

“What’s going on?” Debra asked from the backseat. “Daniel have you been drinking?”

“No,” Steve said at the same time that Danny said “yes.”

Steve turned to look at Danny.

Danny turned around in his seat to stare at his former mother-in-law. “Yes Debra. I buried my wife and had my ability as a parent questioned. It was a bad day. So if I went to a bar, well I’m only human.”

“And if Grace were to see you—“

“No,” Steve interrupted. “Danny is a good father. Grace would never see Danny drunk. He would never have even gone out if she was with him instead of you.”

“This is none of your business,” Debra told him icily. “It’s a family matter.”

“You’re right,” Danny said. “And since it obviously didn’t sink in earlier when Grace was asking for her Uncle Steve, Steve is family.”

Despite the situation, Steve felt a warmth spread through him at Danny’s words. After all the times that Danny had questioned his place in their lives. It was all he could do to keep an inappropriate grin off of his face. Damn he had it bad.

The rest of the ride to the cemetery was silent. Once Steve had parked in front of the gate Danny got out and rushed to the bushes to empty his stomach once again.

“Danny?” Steve asked.

“Go!” Danny waved him toward the gate.

The gate was locked and while the bars were spaced far enough apart for a young girl to slip through, Steve wouldn’t fit. Not pausing to think he jumped up, grabbed the bars, and began to pull himself up and over. He flung himself over the top and landed in a crouch on the other side.

He straightened up and took off at a run in the direction of Rachel’s grave, his eyes scanning the area. When he got near the grave he saw a small figure curled up on top of the new earth. Steve slowed to a walk.

“Grace!” he called out softly, not wanting to startle her.

Grace sat up quickly, her head turning around wildly. “Steve?”

“Here.”

Once she saw him she got up and ran to him flinging herself into his arms. “I’m sorry! I had a nightmare again and then Grandma wouldn’t let me call you and then I just wanted to see Mommy and say goodbye so I came here and then I didn’t have enough money to get back.”

“Hey, hey,” he murmured, picking her up and rubbing her back soothingly. “It’s okay. Everything's okay now.”

He turned and started walking back the way he had come carrying her. “So did you dream about the bad men again?”

“No,” she whispered. “I dreamed that Daddy was in the hospital again only this time he was hurt really bad. Like Tommy’s uncle.”

“What happened to Tommy’s uncle?” Steve asked.

“He was in a car accident and he never woke up. Tommy said that he visited him in the hospital and there were tubes everywhere. He said it was really scary.”

“I bet it was,” Steve agreed. “But Danno is fine. He’s just outside the gate so you’ll see for yourself in a minute.”

“Steve!” Danny bellowed as he got closer to the gate. “Was she there?”

“Yeah!” Steve replied. “I’ve got her.”

**

Steve looked up as Danny entered his room and leaned against the door. “Is she asleep?”

“Yeah,” he said tiredly. “She finally drifted off a few minutes ago.”

“Are you okay?” Steve asked.

Danny nodded. “I just need about a gallon of water and thirty-six hours of sleep.”

Steve smiled. “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

“Steve...” Danny asked hesitantly. “Would you agree I’m sober now?”

“Mostly,” Steve acknowledged. “Why?”

“I don’t care about complicated,” Danny said, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the floor. “And I really don’t want to be alone tonight.”

Steve stared at Danny. He was mostly sober but Steve didn’t doubt that his desire for companionship was being influenced by grief. Still, it was one thing to try to give Danny space and it was another to push him away. Steve would never push him away. Wordlessly he scooted over to the far side of the bed and pulled back the covers. Danny’s shoulders relaxed and he entered the room, closing the door behind him.

Danny got into bed, facing away from Steve. Steve turned out the light, and settled back hesitantly putting his arm around Danny. Danny sighed at the touch and took Steve’s hand in his.

“Thank you,” Danny murmured. “for everything.”

Steve moved closer to Danny until he was pressed fully against his back. “Did you mean what you said earlier? About me being family?”

“Yeah,” Danny answered quietly. “And besides, she has no right to question you. I’m the only one allowed to do that.”

Steve chuckled and squeezed Danny’s hand.

“And maybe you _should_ teach Grace something,” Danny continued, rubbing his thumb in circles across the back of Steve’s hand. “Tae Kwon Do or Karate or something. Just not Krav Maga.”

“I can do that,” Steve said. “What changed your mind?”

“Grace is like you,” Danny replied. “I don’t necessarily like that—and before you say anything I’m not trying to insult you. I wish she didn’t have to deal with these things but she does and you get each other in a way I don’t. She needs something right now. I trust your opinion.”

Steve smiled against Danny’s back. “So if I’m going to be teaching her martial arts and softball does that mean you’re going to be staying in Hawaii?”

“Well, who knows how long she’s going to need your post-nightmare tea parties? I certainly can’t deprive her of those,” Danny replied. “Wait a minute. Did you say softball too?”

“Yeah,” Steve answered. “She was throwing rocks into the ocean this morning. Quite an arm. And she swung a bat at me pretty good the other day too.”

Danny laughed. “When did she swing a bat at you?”

“The first night,” Steve replied. “She woke up disoriented and didn’t know who was coming up the stairs.”

“Atta girl,” Danny said proudly. “And I would love it if she took up softball, but since baseball is my sport I think I can teach her that. If she decides she wants to go out for the football team then she’s all yours.”

“Fair enough,” Steve said, his heart swelling at the way Danny was assuming that he would be in the picture for a long time to come. He shifted in the bed and pulled Danny even closer against his chest.

Danny chucked softly and squeezed Steve’s hand. “Babe, I’m not going anywhere.”

Steve didn’t answer, just held on tight.

“Hey,” Danny said pulling Steve’s arm back far enough to turn over in his arms. So that he was facing Steve, looking into his eyes. “I mean it.”

Steve nodded and Danny stretched up to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth before leaning his head against Steve’s chest and closing his eyes. It didn’t take him long to drift off to sleep.

**

When Steve woke up early the next morning his legs were tangled with Danny’s and his left arm was numb from being trapped under Danny all night. Danny had stolen his pillow at some point leaving him with a crick in his neck. And yet Steve didn’t care. He was happier this morning than he had been in years.

He carefully pulled his arm out from under Danny, doing his best not to wake him. He grabbed his cell phone and slipped into the hallway to give Chin a call.

“Did you find anything?” he asked when Chin picked up.

“I was just about to call you,” Chin replied. “The concierge showed up at the station late last night. Apparently you weren’t very subtle when you were looking for him yesterday. The local Yakuza figured out what was going on and thought it would be a good idea to eliminate the problem.”

Steve frowned. “But he’s still alive?”

“Yeah,” Chin answered. “As soon as he heard they’d put the hit out on him he showed up and started spilling everything in exchange for witness protection.”

Steve leaned against the wall. “Everything?”

“Yeah, apparently he was around for some very interesting conversations. Like the one where the hit was put out on Stan.”

“Do we know why?”

Chin sighed. “Apparently Stan started realizing the books didn’t add up at the hotel. He made copies and was going to turn them in to the FBI. Best as we can figure he probably had enough evidence for a pretty good RICO case.”

Steve squeezed the bridge of his nose. “And he didn’t talk to the FBI first? He just took it home with him. Didn’t even try to get a protective detail?”

“It wasn’t very well thought out,” Chin agreed his voice grave. “But the upside is that the concierge is willing to testify in court against several of the lieutenants, including the one who we think actually ordered the hit. And all he wants in exchange is a one way ticket to somewhere in the middle of the fly over states.”

“Sounds like a reasonable exchange,” Steve said the tension of the last few days draining out of him. “No word on the new head?”

“No, whoever it is is keeping a low profile.”

Steve sighed. He hadn’t really expected the new boss to play his hand this early in the game anyway. “Good work, Chin. And thank you for taking care of all of this.”

“No problem, brah,” Chin said. “You had to take care of family.”

“Yeah,” Steve said smiling goofily. “Yeah I did.”

Chin laughed. “Boss, you do realize you aren’t very subtle at all right?”

“Danny’s mentioned it a time or two,” Steve commented.

“I bet he has.”

Steve peeked back into the bedroom and saw that Danny was stirring. “I have to go.”

**

Danny woke up disoriented with a pounding headache and cottonmouth. It took him a moment to figure out where he was. He remembered coming in here last night but waking up in Steve’s bed was still a bit strange.

He rolled over and pulled a pillow over his head trying to keep the sun from sending stabbing pains through his eyes and straight into his brain. He ran through the events of last night in his head, expecting to feel embarrassed or guilty or something but he didn’t. He had finally acknowledged his feelings for Steve and if the way Steve clung to him last night was any indication they were reciprocated and then some.

“Hey,” Steve said.

Danny peeked out from under the pillow and saw Steve grinning at him from just inside the door. Steve was only wearing a pair of pajama pants that rested very low on his hips and Danny suddenly had all sorts of ideas of what he would like to do this morning if it wasn’t for his killer hangover and the fact that Grace would be waking up any time now.

“You need better curtains.” Danny said shielding his eyes.

Steve rolled his eyes at him, ducked into the bathroom, and came back with a glass of water and a bottle of Tylenol. “Here.”

Danny struggled up into a sitting position. “Thanks.”

“So I talked to Chin,” Steve said sitting down next to him as he fumbled with the bottle trying to get the child proof lid off. “They’ve closed the case.”

Danny paused in his attempts to open the bottle, his hands shaking. “He’s sure.”

“Yes,” Steve replied, reaching out to take the bottle and opening it for him.

Danny took the pills Steve held out and swallowed them down with the entire glass of water. “Okay. Good. I don’t want to know the details. Not right now. But if you’re both sure then that’s good enough for me.”

Steve nodded.

“I’m going to get cleaned up,” Danny said, needing to clear his head. He stumbled to his feet and headed into the bathroom.

He couldn’t believe that it was all over. In less than a week the case had been closed and he had apparently started a brand new relationship. Everything was moving so fast. He felt so much relief that Rachel’s murder was solved and that Grace wouldn’t have to wonder like Steve did.

He sighed. It was time to put Rachel aside for a while. Now that there was closure it was time to concentrate on what was going on between him and Steve.

He grabbed a towel and headed straight to the shower. He reeked. He reeked like a homeless man on a three week bender. It was disgusting and boy was it a bad sign when you were that disgusted by your own smell.

He glanced in the mirror as he passed it and couldn’t believe how awful he looked. Between that and the stench Danny had to revise his evaluation of last night, deciding that Steve must really fucking love him if he was willing to not only kiss him after he had vomited but had cuddled with him despite the funk.

Danny stopped with his hand poised over the shower’s faucet. Suddenly the last puzzle piece snapped in place. He had been too drunk last night to realize the depth of what was going on but he saw it all now. In his mind he could see Steve’s face in the hospital when he’d come in and found Rachel there. And then there was the way Steve had clung to him before Sang Min rushed in. The way he had been there for him this whole year--him and Grace. And to Danny that said it all. Steve was in love with him.

How had he missed it all this time?

Danny turned on the water as hot as he could stand and stepped in to stand motionless under the spray. He was such an idiot. He had been pushing and pushing against Steve all this time and yet Steve never left. Even when he’d fled yesterday morning before the funeral, he had gone to try to solve the crime. Steve really wasn’t going anywhere.

He’d reassured Steve last night that he wasn’t leaving but somehow he hadn’t realized that Steve wasn’t going to ever leave him until just now. If he took Grace back to New Jersey he had a feeling that Steve would follow.

Danny began to scrub roughly at his skin washing away more than just the dirt. He knew that he had feelings for Steve. After last night he was done fighting them. He had been battling them for long enough, but was he in love with Steve? Sure he wanted to be with him but was he _in love_ with him? After all, just a week ago, he had been planning to spend the rest of his life with Rachel.

He closed his eyes and let the water stream over his face. Just last night he had been bemoaning the lack of passion with Rachel but he certainly didn’t lack passion with Steve. No one could infuriate him more than Steve, but it wasn’t just that. He knew without a doubt that no matter what happened Steve would be there for him and Grace. He would never betray them or put someone else—even himself--ahead of them. That was a certainty that he’d never had with Rachel.

He trusted Steve absolutely and really that was the important part.

Once he was clean he wrapped a towel around his waist and reentered the bedroom to find Steve sitting on the bed looking through a case file.

“Hey,” he said softly.

“Feel better?” Steve asked looking up at him.

“Much,” Danny said. He gazed at Steve, letting his eyes roam over the lines of his arms and his muscled chest. Making up his mind, he walked over to the bedroom door and made sure it was locked. If Grace needed them she could knock.

He turned back around to face Steve and let the towel drop. He smiled at the look of shock on Steve’s face. “The genie is so far out of the bottle.”

Steve’s face broke into a grin. He crammed the papers back into the folder and tossed it aside before rushing forward to wrap his arms around Danny. Steve pressed him back against the door, his hands roving up and down Danny’s still damp sides.

Danny reached his hands up and pulled Steve’s head down into a kiss and this time it was better. This time it wasn’t at all awkward. Danny smirked against Steve’s mouth and nipped at his lip, tugging it gently with his teeth.

Steve groaned and slid his leg between Danny’s pressing his thigh against Danny’s hard aching cock. Pleasure ran up Danny’s spine at the touch and he rocked forward against Steve, seeking more contact.

Steve buried his head against Danny’s neck, trailing kisses as they slowly rocked against each other. Danny could feel Steve’s erection rubbing against his leg and he pushed at Steve’s pants. “You’re wearing too much.”

“I am,” Steve whispered, his breath tickling Danny’s ear. “Bed now.”

Danny nodded and let Steve turn him around and guide him to the bed while their hands still roamed over each other’s bodies, never breaking contact. Once the backs of his knees hit the edge of the bed he flopped back and watched as Steve pulled his pants off, his long hard cock springing free and standing straight out.

Danny slid back onto the bed, his feet flat and legs spread wide. “Come here.”

Steve didn’t have to be told twice. He climbed over Danny and leaned down to kiss him. Danny kissed him back, running his hands over Steve’s back and pulling him down until Steve was resting between his legs.

Steve moaned as their cocks touched and he began to slide slowly forward creating a delicious friction. After a moment he stopped rocking and began to kiss his way down Danny’s body. When Steve’s teeth found his nipple and began to tug gently, he moaned and arched up, his cock pressing against Steve’s stomach. Steve blew a cool breath onto Danny’s nipple and moved on trailing his lips down Danny’s chest.

Danny grabbed the sheets as Steve moved lower until he was kissing his way down Danny’s cock and licking his way back up again before he sucked the tip gently into his mouth.

“Steve!” Danny gasped as Steve slowly swallowed him and then pulled back to lick at the head. He raised his head up to watch as Steve began to bob up and down. The sight of his cock sliding in and out of Steve’s mouth was nearly overwhelming and he couldn’t stop himself from raising his hips and thrusting forward.

Steve lifted his eyes to lock with Danny’s and stilled his movement, loosening his jaw. Danny took the invitation and continued to thrust forward. The whole situation was too much and it didn’t take long for his balls to tighten. Steve swallowed his release and gently sucked him through his orgasm before letting go of his cock and sliding up Danny’s body to kiss him.

Danny returned the kiss lazily as Steve began to rut against him, thrusting against his hip.

“That’s it, Babe,” he whispered against Steve’s lips. He cupped Steve’s ass and pulled him closer. “Come on.”

Danny felt Steve tense up and spill hot and sticky against his hip. Once he came he relaxed, and collapsed bonelessly on top of Danny, his head resting in the crook of Danny’s neck. Danny let him lay there for a moment before poking him in the ribs.

“What?” Steve mumbled sleepily.

“You are not going to fall asleep on top of me,” Danny said. “You’d crush me in your sleep.”

Steve grunted and rolled off of Danny. Once he was free, Danny reached down and wiped the come off of his hip with the edge of the sheet—they needed to be washed anyway—and rolled over to throw his arm over Steve’s hip. Steve was already breathing deeply and Danny smiled and kissed his back before following him into sleep.

**

When Danny woke up the sun was high in the sky and he was alone in the bed. He stretched out lazily and checked the clock. When he saw it was nearly noon he got up and pulled on his clothes. Grace should be up by now and he assumed that Steve was probably with her.

He hoped that she hadn’t looked for him in his room and not found him. He was going to have to have a conversation with her about his new relationship with Steve at some point but he wasn’t quite ready for that yet and it would probably be best if he stuck to his own room for a while. He was sure that Steve would understand. Besides, they still had to figure some things out themselves first.

Danny checked Grace’s room and found it empty so he made his way downstairs. When he got to the bottom of the stairs he heard Grace giggling in the kitchen and he quietly turned a corner to see Grace sitting at the table while Steve stood over the stove.

He paused in the doorway and leaned against the frame to watch. She was stirring a bowl of batter with a large smile on her face, laughing at something Steve said. It was nice to see her laugh again. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew it wouldn’t last, her grief was still too raw. But it was a start.

“Danno!” Grace shouted when she saw him at the door. “Steve is making pancakes! I told him it was too late for breakfast but he said that it was never too late for breakfast.”

“He has a point,” Danny said grinning at her as he walked into the kitchen and opened the cupboards to get out some plates. As he walked by the stove he reached out to rest his hand on Steve’s hip for a moment before continuing on to set the table. “What kind of pancakes are we having?”

“Blueberry and chocolate chip,” Steve said.

“Together?” Danny asked making a face. “Is this your doing Monkey?”

“Maybe,” she said laughing. “Steve told me I could have whatever I wanted in them and that since it was a special occasion it didn’t matter if it wasn’t healthy. But I told him you still couldn’t have any bacon.”

“Did you?” Danny asked laughing.

Steve looked up from the griddle. “And I told her that I wasn’t going to let you have bacon anyway because your cholesterol was up at your last physical.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Between the two of you I don’t stand a chance do I?”

“Nope,” Steve smiled at him. “But if it makes you feel any better I left the chocolate chips out of yours.”

“It does,” Danny said returning Steve’s smile.

He could get used to mornings like this. He felt like he was finally home.

 

 **Epilogue**

“Where’s Dad?” Grace asked as she entered the kitchen. She had long ago stopped calling her father Danno, except on special occasions.

“He went to get your present,” Steve answered as he loaded a plate full of pancakes for her. He only had tea for himself but Grace was sure he had already eaten. He had probably been up for hours already.

“And it wasn’t supposed to be a surprise?” Grace asked with a laugh as she sat down at the table.

Steve smirked. “I didn’t tell you what it was.”

Grace rolled her eyes and dug into the food Steve had made her. It was hard to believe that she was graduating high school today and leaving next week to spend the summer visiting her grandparents in England and New Jersey. It seemed like only yesterday that her parents had divorced followed by several years of major life changes. First her mom had remarried, then they had all moved to Hawaii, and then her mother and Stan were murdered.

“Why the long face?” Steve asked sitting down across from her and sipping his tea.

“I was just thinking about mom,” Grace said pushing a piece of pancake around in a puddle of syrup, avoiding Steve’s eyes. “I wish she were here today.”

“I’m sure she’d be proud of you,” Steve said quietly. “We all are.”

Grace pushed aside her sadness and looked up with a smile. She still missed her mom but after nine years the grief was no longer intense. She had had nine years of relative stability and had a family that loved her, even if it was a bit non-traditional.

There had been a few terrifying nights spent in the hospital when her dad or Steve or Kono or Uncle Chin had been shot or stabbed. Nights that brought back the fear of that day so long ago when she had lost her mom. But so far Steve had kept his promise and nothing bad had happened to her dad; at least nothing too bad. She was old enough now to realize that it was a promise that he shouldn’t have made and couldn’t possibly be expected to keep but she was glad he had. As a kid she had found the promise a major comfort.

“Even though I’m going to go off and study something useless like French literature or art history?” Grace teased, recalling all of the arguments she’d had with Steve while he tried to help her with her calculus homework. Her dad, on the other hand, didn’t care what she studied as long as she went to college in Honolulu. Proximity was all that mattered to him. Although, he did occasionally complain about her interest in French, muttering about how English ought to be good enough. She knew he didn’t really mean it.

“Even still,” Steve said smiling fondly.

“Thank you,” she said seriously, suddenly overcome with emotion. “Thank you for being here for me.”

“Always,” Steve said firmly. “You better finish eating or we’re going to be late.”

“Can I drive?” she asked hopefully after she had cleared her plate.

“No,” Steve answered as he gathered her dishes.

Grace rolled her eyes. Steve always had to drive. Frankly it was a miracle that she had her license. Her dad had flat out refused to teach her to drive, saying that his heart couldn’t take the stress. He had also forbidden Steve and Kono from teaching her claiming that she would pick up bad habits. Not that she’d wanted Steve to teach her anyway. The calculus tutoring had been bad enough. Uncle Chin had finally convinced her dad to let him teach her, after he had sworn on a Bible that he would never even let her look at his motorcycle.

“I can’t believe it’s already graduation,” she said as she stowed her cap and gown and climbed into Steve’s truck. “It feels like prom was just yesterday.”

Grace frowned at the thought of prom. She had finally managed to find a guy who wasn’t terrified of her parents. Usually when she told a guy that she had two dads, they would snicker and make assumptions. When she went on to tell them that one was a Navy SEAL and the other an HPD detective they usually stopped laughing. When she further clarified that they were in charge of the infamous Five-0 task force they found other girls to date.

But John hadn’t been put off. He’d asked her to prom and even managed to survive the pre-prom interrogation. He had held up remarkably well when her father lectured him about curfews and appropriate behavior. He’d barely broken a sweat even though Steve had been inspecting a box of grenades at the time.

Despite the promising start, the date had turned out awful. They had barely made it to the dance when John and his friends had started drinking out of flasks someone had smuggled in. By the time it was their turn for pictures, John was wasted and trying to grope her. Not too much later, he had ditched her for a more receptive girl.

Grace had been humiliated and called Steve to pick her up. She didn’t want her dad to know what happened. He would have flown off the handle and she would be thirty before he’d let her date again. Steve could be terrifying but he rarely lost his temper. He had promised not to tell her dad what happened and to her knowledge he hadn’t. Of course, later that night the after-party she was supposed to attend was raided and a bunch of students were picked up for underage drinking. She’d found out later that somehow John’s paperwork had been lost and he’d been stuck spending the entire night in jail. Steve might not lose his temper but that only made him more dangerous. Not that she’d minded in this case.

“Wait until you’re older.” Steve said, bringing her out of her thoughts. “Time flies by even faster. It seems like just yesterday you and Danny were moving in.”

“Back when dad had his own room,” Grace smirked.

Steve shot her a glare, but she saw the slight blush he was trying to hide. She loved making Steve uncomfortable because it was so hard to do.

“Back when you still slept with Dolphin Trainer Annie every night,” he retaliated.

Grace laughed. “I loved that doll.”

“I know.” Steve smiled. “You were always losing it somewhere. Trying to find it drove Danny crazy.”

“I remember one time he found her in the freezer where your stash of peppermint patties was supposed to be,” Grace said laughing.

They were still laughing over their memories of Dolphin Trainer Annie when they pulled into the high school parking lot. Grace saw her friends waiting by the front door and moved to get out of the truck when Steve stopped her.

“Wait,” he said reaching over to pull a small box out of the glove compartment. “I want you to have this.”

Grace looked at Steve with surprise. He had already given her a plane ticket to England for graduation so she hadn’t been expecting anything else. She opened the box and found a small silver pendant. It was oval shaped and covered with a delicate filigreed design.

“It’s a locket.” Steve said quietly. “It belonged to my mother.”

“I can’t take this,” she said, understanding more than most what it must mean to him and Aunt Mary. “One of Aunt Mary’s girls should have it.”

“Mary and I both want you to have it.” he insisted, picking it up out of the box and gesturing for her to turn around so he could put it on her. “It belongs with the oldest granddaughter.”

Grace couldn’t hold back the tears at the simple explanation. She turned around and threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Gracie,” Steve said squeezing her briefly. “Now you better get going, your friends are waiting.”

**

Steve watched Grace run off to join the familiar crowd of girls. For just a moment he saw a little girl with the sloppy french braid he’d tried to give her after much Internet study instead of the poised young woman that she’d become.

He shook his head to clear the past and tried to find a parking spot.

“What took you so long?” Danny asked him when he’d finally made his way into the auditorium.

“You know Grace.” Steve shrugged. “She tried on at least three dresses and upwards of six pairs of shoes.”

Danny smiled and started to make his way down the aisle looking for Chin and Kono. Once they had managed to fight their way through to the saved seats Steve turned to look at Danny.

Steve had trouble believing that it had been a decade since he’d met this man. Danny had mellowed just a touch over the years and he had a few more lines around his eyes but otherwise he was the same as when they first met in the garage with guns drawn. He even had that same damn haircut.

“What?” Danny asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Just thinking about that day we met,” Steve replied. “You’ve barely changed.”

“That’s because this,” Danny said gesturing at his face, “is timeless.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Your hair could use an upgrade.”

Danny skimmed his hair with his hand. “My hair is perfection. You wish your hair looked this good.”

Steve laughed. “That’s it.”

Danny grinned at him.

“So did you get her gift in place?” Steve asked.

Danny beamed. “It’s parked out front, big bow and all.”

Before Steve could respond the band began playing “Pomp and Circumstance” and the graduates began to file in. When Grace passed them Danny reached out and grabbed Steve’s hand. Steve smiled and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “You did good.”

“No, Babe,” Danny whispered back. “We did good.”

Steve smiled and leaned in pressing his lips briefly to Danny’s.

“Okay, you two,” Kono laughed. “Save it for later.”

**

Later that afternoon after all the presents had been opened and all the guests had gone home Danny and Grace got into her new car and headed for the cemetery.

“Why didn’t Steve come?” Grace asked.

“He wanted to give us a little privacy,” Danny said. “Either that or he just couldn’t deal with you driving.”

“I’m sure that's the real reason,” Grace laughed. “Seriously Dad, I can’t believe you got me a car!”

“Well, since you insisted on staying in the dorm, you needed a car to come home and visit,” Danny explained. “Which you are going to do often. Very often. In fact feel free to come home every day.”

“Dad!” Grace exclaimed. “You’re going to have to let go sometime. Besides, I’m sure you and Steve could use some time by yourselves.”

“I do not in fact have to let go,” Danny corrected her. “Ever. And I don’t know what you think you know about me and Steve but we are just fine the way things are.”

Grace pulled into the cemetery parking lot and turned to look at her dad. “I know you are, Dad. And I love you too. But I am going to move into the dorm and I’m going to study French Literature, and I might even get a boyfriend. You are just going to have to be okay with that.”

Danny shook his head sadly. “You know I think it was just yesterday that you were a sweet little girl with pigtails who always did what her Danno said. What happened to those days?”

Grace smiled as she opened her door. “You taught me to be my own woman. Now you have to live with it.”

“I knew there was a catch somewhere.” Danny laughed as he handed her the bouquet and got out of the car to join her. “But they really should have better explained that in the parenting books.”

“Don’t even pretend like you read parenting books,” Grace said as she slid her arm through his.

When they got near Rachel’s grave they paused and Danny stepped back to let Grace have a moment at the grave by herself.

Grace knelt down in front of the tombstone, carefully brushing away the dirt before laying the flowers on top.

“I graduated today Mom. I wish you were here but I’m sure you saw it anyway. It wasn’t easy, but I made it and this fall I’m going to college to study French Literature.”

Grace laughed. “And Mom, you should have seen Steve’s face when I told him that. I thought he was going to have a heart attack. But even though he didn’t understand at all, for my birthday he got me a leather bound copy of Les Miserables. And Dad is so happy, mom. He hardly even yells anymore. Can you believe that? “

She paused and looked at her dad. “I just want you to know that I still miss you but I’m happy, we both are, and I think you would be proud of me. I really do.”

**Author's Note:**

> The art post can be found [here](http://chosenfire28.livejournal.com/214598.html). Be sure to go leave some love!


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